Aerator with unitary molded inner assembly



Nov. 29, 1960 E. P. AGHNIDES 2,962,225

AERATOR WITH UNITARY MOLDED INNER ASSEMBLY Original Filed April 22. 1954 FIG.- I.

FIG. 3.

INVENTOR Elie P. Aghnides ATTORNEYS United States Fatent O AERATOR WITH UNITARY MOLDED INNER ASSEMBLY Elie P. Aghnides, 46 W. 54th St., New York 19, N.Y.

Original application Apr. 22, 1954, Ser. No. 424,982

now Patent No. 2,799,487, dated July 16, 1957. D1- vided and this application Jan. 30, 1957, Ser. No. 637,224

9 Claims. (Cl. 239-431) This invention relates to aerators and more particularly to improvements in the construction thereof. This application is a division of Application Serial No. 424,982, filed April 22, 1954, for Aerators With Unitary Molded Inner Assembly, now US. Patent 2,799,487 granted July 16, 1957 which in turn is a continuation-in-part of my prior copending applications as follows: Serial No. 333,773, filed January 28, 1953 entitled, Gas and Liquid Mixing Device; Serial No. 337,502, filed February 18, 1953, entitled, Faucet Attachments and granted April 2, 1957 as US. Patent No. 2,787,452; Serial No. 337,506, filed February 18, 1953, entitled, Gas and Liquid Mixing Device, now Patent No. 2,770,446. All of the applications just mentioned are in turn a continuation-in-part of my prior copending application Serial No. 63,110, filed December 2, 1948, entitled Gas and Liquid Mixing Device now US. Patent No. 2,633,343, granted March 31, 1953.

The present invention has for its object the provision of an aerator of improved construction. A further object resides in the provision of an aerator that may be produced at a much lower cost than heretofore. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as this description proceeds.

In brief the invention comprises a plastic rod carrying a perforated disc integral therewith also of plastic. This perforated disc constitutes one of the upstream discs of the aerator. A second upstream disc may be slipped on to the rod and will rest just under the first disc. The mixing screens may be slipped onto the lower end of the rod after which the tip end thereof is enlarged by heat or by other means, causing the screens to be retained at the lower end of the rod. The integral perforated disc has an enlarged periphery which eliminates the need for washers and spacers.

The aforesaid construction is much lower in cost than prior art devices, and moreover enables the aerator to be cleaned much more readily than has heretofore been possible. In addition, it is not possible for the housewife to lose any of the parts or assemble them incorrectly. when she cleans the working parts of the aerator.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of one form of the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of another form of theinvention.

Figure 3is a cross sectional view of still an additional form of the invention.

In Figure l the aerator casing 8 has internal threads at the top thereof in order that the aerator may be screwed to the faucet. The casing has a ledge upon which perforated disc 6 rests. There is an integral plastic element comprising all of the following parts: a handle 18, a plastic disc 17, a body 19, a small tip end 16 and a head 20. The disc 17 has enlargements 21 and holes 12.

In order to avoid the necessity of washers or gaskets in the aerator, the upstream disc 17 of polyethylene,

semi-hard rubber or the like, is provided with an enlarged peripheral flange 21. This enlarged flange 21 serves two purposes: first, since the plastic material is sufiiciently soft that the enlarged flange 21 will act as a washer or gasket, the latter maintains the connection between the aerator casing 8 and the faucet watertight; and secondly, the head 21 insures that the lower end of the faucet does not cover holes 12. When the holes 12 are not close to the periphery, the enlargement 21 at the upstream side is not necessary.

It has been found in connection with aerators that it is desirable to have two upstream perforated discs, and consequently I providedisc 17 with holes 12 and another adjacent disc 6 with holes 13 therein. It is noted that the present invention is an improvement over the earlier aerators in that the holes 12 are intentionally out of alignment with the holes 13 in disc 6. The disc 6 is crirnped and has two circular rows of holes. Because of the crimping of the disc 6, the holes 13 tend to reduce the divergence of the streamlets emerging therefrom and to direct more accurately the streamlets onto the mixing screen 7.

The disc 6 is arranged to slide loosely upon the body 19 and may therefore be placed on that body during the assembly of the aerator and prior to the placing of the screen 7 onto the tip 16.

As originally molded, the tip end 16 is of uniform diameter and greater length than shown and hence does not include head 20. After the disc 6 has been'placed on the body 19 and the screens 7 placed on the tip 16, the lower tip end of the rod 16 is heated and upset to enlarge the latter and produced head 29 which holds the screens 7 in place. These screens may be held together by a suitable frame 11 and spaced from each other in any suitable way. An additional screen 10 may be employed and held in place by a clamping ring 9.

In event the housewife desires to remove the aerator for the purposes of cleaning the same, all that is necessary is to unscrew the casing 8 from the faucet and lift the internal parts from the casing by use of the handle 18. The disc 6 is then freely slidable on rod 19 and may be moved away from disc 17 a sufiicient distance to enable any dirt resting between the discs 6 and 17 to be removed. Then the disc 6 may be moved upwards against the head 21 to provide an enlarged space betweendisc 6 and screen 7 whereby the latter may be cleaned. While the internal parts are removed, water may be passed across screen 10 to clean it. When it is desired to reassemble the aerator it is merely necessary to hold the unit by handle 18 and drop it into the casing until disc 6 rests on ledge 15.

The device of Figure 2 is essentially the same as that 26 to avoid the sharp edges being exposed. Air inlet holes 14 are provided, the same as air inlet holes 14 of'Figure 1.

In Figure 3 the plastic body 19 has an integral handle 18 as well as the integral disc 17. The latter has perforations 12 near the center of the device. The disc 6 is slidable on body 19 and has perforations 13 in circular rows. The lower end of the body 19' has a head 4 which is enlarged after the disc 6 has been put into place in order to hold the latter as part of the unit. Clamping rings 9 hold screens 10- and 7 in place. The central hole in screen 7 is larger than the head 4 of body 19 to permit the removal of dirt which may accumulate between the two screens. The casing is in two parts, the upper part 8A of which has internal threads for the purpose of screwing the same to the faucet. The upper part 8A casing 8B. The disc 6may be a press-fit in Tu'pperpart' 8A. The spacing between .the two'discs or it may be loose.

is preferably one or two millimeters. Figure 3' also indicates that body 19 can be long enough to reach the" screen and keep it in position when said screen or screens are not held permanently in position by means of a press-fit ring 9 which may be omitted.

While I have shown a single row of holes in the upstream disc, it is obvious that a plurality of rows can be. provided in the upstream disc in combinationwith one. or

more rows of holes in the downstream disc.

I claim to have invented: 1. An aerator comprising a casing, means in the casing for breaking up the Water into high velocity streamlets comprising a pair of adjacent'superposed discs, an air inlet downstream said discs, at least one screen in the casing downstream the air inlet for finely breaking up the water and mixing it with air to form a coherent stream of aerated water containing bubbles, a central stud for removing the discs and at least one screen from the casing as a unit, one of said discs being slidable on said stud in order that the discs may be separated from each other when it is desired to clean the same and the other of said discs being integrally molded with said stud, the upper of said superposed discs having a row of apertures therein and the lower disc having a ridge extending upwardly with its apex immediately and directly below' said row of apertures, the lower disc having apertures spaced from forated plastic disc in the casing, a molded plastic stud inner assembly member extending downstream from the disc, a second perforated disc downstream from the first one and slidable on said stud, an air inlet downstream the second disc, and means in the casing downstream the air inlet for finely breaking up the water and mixing it with air to form a coherent jet of aerated water containing bubbles, said stud and said upstream disc being integrally molded and the upstream disc having an enlargement around its periphery which acts as a washer and which also bears against said second perforated disc to thereby efiectively seal the two discs at their peripheries and confine the flow of water through the perforations in the discs.

3. An aerator as defined by claim 2 in which the lower end of the stud carries means to prevent the second disc from being removed from the stud.

4. An aerator comprising a casing, an upstream perforated disc in the casing, a stud extending downstream of the disc, a second perforated disc slidable on the stud downstream of the position of the first disc, an air inlet downstream the second disc, screen means near the downstream end of the stud and carried thereby when the stud is removed from the casing, the screen means being of such mesh as to finely break up the water and mix it with air to produce a coherent jet of aerated water containing bubbles, said stud and said upstream disc being integrally molded of plastic material, said casing having threads for screwing the same to a faucet and said first and second discs extending adjacent to the inside wall of the casing so that when the casing is screwed onto. a faucet the faucet will bear against the first disc and press it tight-- ly against the second one to seal the two discs together at their peripheries.

5. An aerator comprising a casing having at least a ledge therein, a unitary assembly comprising all of the following parts: a central stud carrying an upstream disc, a second disc slidable onsaid stud downstream of the first disc, the second disc being of such size as to rest on the ledge when the unit is placed in the casing, and screen means carried by the lower end of the stud, one end of said stud comprising a handle, said central stud and said upstream disc being integral and composed of molded plastic, the lower disc being crimped to form a ridge that has its projecting part closely approaching the upstream disc, the upstream disc having an opening above the ridge and the second disc having perforations spaced from the ridge.

6. An aerator as defined in claim 5 in which the upstream disc is thicker adjacent its periphery than near its center and is composed of material soft enough to act as a washer.

7. An aerator comprising a casing, a molded plastic central stud having an integral upstream perforated disc carried thereby, said upstream disc being thicker near its periphery and the perforations being in the thinner pontion thereof, a shoulder on the stud immediately below said disc, a second disc slidable on the stud and spaced from said first disc by. said shoulder, said casing having a ledge for carrying said second disc, the casing having an air inlet downstream the ledge, the lower end of the stud lower part of the stud and having a hole therethroughfor the stud to pass, the enlarged head being larger than the. hole in the screen and the screen being located below the air inlet.

8. An aerator comprising a casing adapted to be connected to a source of liquid under pressure, a pair of perforated adjacent elements near the upstream end of the casing, the upstream one of said members being composed of material soft enough to act as a washer, saidcasing having an air inlet downstream the elements, a stud slidable in one of said elements and integral with the other, screen means near the downstream end of said casing and having a hole therein through which the stud passes, the stud carrying the screen means with it when it is removed from the casing.

9. An aerator as defined in claim 8 in which the downstream one of said elements has a downstream projection which terminates at the screen means and limits the upstream motion of the latter, said stud being slidable in said projection.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

